


The End

by boutondor



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-09 20:19:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/777590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boutondor/pseuds/boutondor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All the names have been crossed off from the notebook. Now what?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Felicity

**FELICITY**

On a random Thursday night, four years after Felicity first met Oliver Queen, the last name from the book was crossed off. Afterwards, Felicity and Oliver spent the night together, feeling truly free for the first time.

It was only the next morning when she was preparing coffee that it truly hit Felicity: it was over. After all this time, Oliver could finally retire The Hood. They had discussed the possibility of retiring The Hood when it became clear that there wasn’t long to go before all the names in the notebook would be crossed off. Oliver and Diggle had been ambivalent at completely finishing their odd crusade but Felicity had been insistent; they had all put their lives on hold to achieve this. It was time to retire. They hadn’t needed as much convincing as she would have thought – clearly they were all ready to go back to some kind of normality.

One thing that she hadn’t discussed with them was that she also intended to break up with Oliver. While they had made sense and really worked when he was half Oliver Queen and half The Hood, she knew it would be different once he was just Oliver Queen. For one thing, he no longer had an excuse to hide her and she wasn’t sure how well she would fit in Oliver Queen’s world.

For the last 2 ½ years that they have been dating, only Diggle had known about their relationship. Oliver had been afraid that she would come under suspicion if he ever got caught and it was known that he was dating Felicity. So he claimed to be the playboy he used to be, sleeping at various girls’ places while he was generally spending his nights at Felicity’s. She thought about the evidence of his presence in her apartment over the years: a sweater hanging on the armchair of her sofa, a Gilligan’s Island mug (a joke gift from Thea) on the counter, a toothbrush in the bathroom, a bottle of Armani cologne on the dresser in her bedroom. She would have to box it all up soon.

She felt an arm snake around her waist and warm lips on the crook of her neck. She smiled happily. He felt so good against her. “Good morning,” he said softly as he put his other arm around her, hugging her from behind.

She put her arms over his, sighing contentedly. “Good morning.”

“You’re up early,” he noted. She glanced at the kitchen clock – it was 7:20am. 

“I have to go to work in 40 minutes,” she explained.

Oliver groaned. “Do you have to?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I need to pay rent.”

He kissed her neck again, slowly working his way up to her lips and then kissed her deeply. She twisted in his arms to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She certainly didn’t feel like going to work.

“Blow off work today,” Oliver suggested once they parted. “Just for today. I bet you’ve never missed a day of work in your life. Come on, call in sick.” He was smiling at her but did his best to put on the puppy dog eyes. 

She sighed. She was really tempted. He was right; she had never missed a day of work. She knew that no one would question her if she called in sick. Oliver could probably feel her resolve weakening because he pressed on, “It’s such a gorgeous day. We could go to our cabin by the lake. Just the two of us – no one else. We could spend the weekend there.”

She had planned on breaking up with him during the weekend but one more weekend wouldn’t make much of a difference and she would have one last weekend with him before it all ends. She smiled at him having made up her mind. “I’ll go call the office.”

The grin that appeared on Oliver’s face when she agreed to his plan made her heart flutter. His eyes were bright with happiness – as if there had been very little in Oliver’s life that made him as happy as Felicity agreeing to go away with him for a weekend. She mentally chided herself as she walked away to call work. She couldn’t start making herself believe that things were more than what they were. She could be walking on a dangerous path.

************************************

A week later, Felicity still hadn’t broken up with Oliver. She found it difficult to end things. Their weekend away had been so perfect and he was acting as if he was completely in love with her. And now he had suggested that he introduced her to his family. She had immediately refused but he had looked so crestfallen when she had rebuffed his proposition that she had relented. So this Friday night, instead of spending it looking at her three monitors trying to track down the latest culprit in Oliver’s notebook like she had so many Friday nights before, she was going to have dinner with Moira, Walter and Thea. She wanted to puke.

However, she had nothing to worry about. Dinner went really well. Walter was as nice to her (if not more) as he was at the office, Moira was gracious and courteous and Thea seemed to find Felicity’s nervous babbling entertaining – in a good way. Oliver held her hand almost the whole dinner. 

So she didn’t break up with him.

It went on for three weeks. Three weeks that made her believe that maybe this could work, that maybe he did love her and that really, he wasn’t thinking about Laurel anymore. She had been painfully aware in the last four years that for Oliver everything always came back to Laurel. But he hadn’t mentioned Laurel once in the last month. His family seemed completely accepting of the fact that Oliver had met someone new, someone important enough to properly introduce her to them, someone who wasn’t Laurel.

And then one night, everything changed.

Queen Consolidated was hosting a fundraising event for local organisations that provided aid to the less fortunate of Starling City. Fundraiser meant that the richest of the rich of Starling City were attending. And so were representatives of the local organisations. Felicity had been hesitant when Oliver invited her to the event, but at the same time, if she was going to be a proper Oliver Queen Girlfriend, she would have to get used to attending such events.

It had been awful.

She was so nervous that she was either babbling to an incredibly embarrassing level or she was stone cold silent. Oliver had been at her side the first ten minutes but he was soon obliged to talk to the different guests. He was going to take a senior position at Queen Consolidated. Since he was no longer spending most of his time hunting the depraved of Starling City, Oliver had decided to take on his father’s corporate legacy and ensure that Queen Consolidated remained a fair and good company in the city. This ascension to the business world obliged Oliver to network and be his charming self so he could gain some credibility among his peers. 

After forty-five minutes, Felicity gave up trying to be Oliver Queen’s Girlfriend, got herself a drink and found a corner of the room where she could hide and people-watch. Within seconds, her eyes found her boyfriend, smiling at the people he was speaking to. He seemed completely in his element. Then, someone stepped away from the group and she saw her: Laurel. She seemed just as comfortable as Oliver was. She was conversing with Oliver and another couple whom Felicity had never seen before. She looked beautiful and charming. Nothing like the awkward dimwit Felicity had been not even ten minutes earlier. She watched as Oliver and Laurel looked at each other, smiling, as if they were alone in the room. Her stomach churned unpleasantly and she felt her throat close up. She scanned the room for a door, having a sudden need to escape. There was one to her right that seemed to be leading to a balcony so she swiftly stepped outside. The temperature was a little cold, but Felicity didn’t mind. It woke her up from her stupor. She sat on a bench and took a deep breath. 

This was exactly what she had wanted to avoid by breaking up with him. She should have listened to herself. She wasn’t made to be Oliver Queen’s Girlfriend. While it had worked and made sense when he was still The Hood, it really didn’t work when he was becoming what he was always meant to be. And hadn’t she told herself this from the very beginning, from the very first kiss? Back then, Oliver could have never dated Laurel. He was protecting her; he didn’t want her to know about The Hood. He was a nightclub owner. He wasn’t ready to take on his father’s legacy, wasn’t ready to become a husband, father, family man. He was slowly going down that path now. He was ready. And Laurel Lance was the perfect partner for that life. Felicity could clearly see that the young woman had already won most of the people in that room. Felicity, on the other hand, would never fit in.

“Felicity?”

Felicity turned around at the sound of Oliver’s voice. She smiled through her tears, didn’t bother hiding them. She was ready now. No point hiding her pain.

He sat down next to her and cupped her face with his hand. “What’s wrong?” his voice was so worried, so caring, so comforting. It tempted her to avoid breaking up with him but she only needed to briefly close her eyes for the image of Laurel and Oliver looking at each other to regain her resolve. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She didn’t know how to do this. What the right words were. How to begin. Finally, she said exactly what she was thinking. “I’m going to miss you,” she said softly, almost a whisper.

Oliver chuckled. “Why? Are you going somewhere?” He wrapped his arms around her. Felicity nodded, looking down on the ground. She didn’t think she would be able to do this if she looked at him. “Where are you going?” she could hear the confusion in his voice. No wonder. She wished she had given him hints the weeks prior to the end of The Hood. Maybe this would have been easier.

Then again, she cannot imagine any scenario where breaking up with Oliver would be easy.

“Back to my boring life as an IT girl,” she told him, hoping he would understand without her having to spell it out for him.

“I know. Soon we’re going to work in the same building. We’re going to see more of each other, not less. You’ll see me so much you’ll be sick of me.” He was smiling as he said this. She couldn’t see it but she could sense it.

“I don’t think it’ll be a good idea for us to see each other at work after tonight,” she said slowly. He was clearly not understanding what she was saying. She wished she could simply say the words without going in such a roundabout way, but the words were stuck in her throat.

“What do you mean?”

This was it. She would have to say it. “I don’t think we should be seeing each other anymore.” She had said it. It was done. She wished she felt some kind of relief, but all she wanted was to hide in her apartment and cry. For a whole day. Or maybe a year.

“What? What are you talking about?” He sounded completely confused. And hurt. She hated that she was hurting him.

“I think we should break up,” she said, her tone clearer this time, more determined. Once it was out there, she felt more confident. This was the right thing to do. Wasn’t love supposed to be about letting people go when it was best for them?

She felt his finger under her chin forcing her to look up. Her heart crumbled when she saw his face. His eyes were red with unshed tears. “What did I do? Did you feel neglected tonight?” Felicity shook her head. She was afraid he would come to the truth. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to discuss how inadequate she was for his future life. “I didn’t mean to leave you alone so long,” he went on. “I have to talk to these people so their opinion of me changes. They need to understand that I am serious and not the fun-time, playboy, nightclub owner anymore. It’s temporary, I swear.”

“But you’ll always be Oliver Queen and that’s not for me. It’s not the life I want to lead,” she explained. 

“Then forget Oliver Queen. Let’s move to Coast City or Central City. Let’s find boring jobs and lead a boring, perfect life together. I don’t need to do this.” He was pleading. He sounded desperate. She felt her determination falter a little but she knew he was motivated by the idea of loss. He had lost so much in his young life; it was difficult to deal with additional loss. But with time, she knew it would be for the best. If they did as he suggested, he would regret it one day and resent her. Or if she stayed his girlfriend here in Starling City, awkward at dinner parties, always saying the wrong thing instead of being charming like Laurel, he would end up resenting it as well. It couldn’t happen. She hated hurting him now but it was better than Oliver resenting her.

“I like living in Starling City. I helped save it,” she said with a sad smile. It was true. All these years in that basement – she had helped The Hood save the city. She wouldn’t want to leave it. 

Oliver looked at her, searching her eyes, her face for an answer she wouldn’t give. She knew he might end up despising, or even hating, her. She hated the thought of him thinking so ill of her but it was worth it. He would be happy in the long run and after everything he had gone through, not many people deserved happiness more than Oliver Queen.

She said the one thing she knew would work. “Please, let me go,” she whispered.

Oliver tensed, but then relaxed, defeated. He unwrapped his arms around her. He got up and looked down at her. The unshed tears now freely falling down his cheeks. “I’ll ask Diggle to take you home.”

“Thank you,” she said, grateful that he was no longer fighting with her on this.

“Goodbye, Felicity,” he said as he walked away.


	2. Oliver

It had been eight months since Felicity had inexplicably broken up with him. For the first couple of months he was working at Queen Consolidated, Oliver had purposely avoided the IT Department. Seeing Felicity so soon after she had broken up with him would have been too difficult to handle. The pain was too raw, the confusion too great. He wished he could truly understand why she had left him. Her doubts over being unable to fit in his world didn’t really fit with the Felicity he knew. When things really mattered, she found a way to make them work, no matter the circumstances. Their relationship had mattered – at least to him.

That was the confusing part. It had seemed to matter to Felicity just as much. They had loved each other; she had loved him. He was sure of it. They hadn’t said it many times but they had said it. Looking back, he wished he had said it to her more often; he wished he had told her every day. 

One day, about three months after he had begun working at Queen Consolidated, Felicity walked into his office. He hadn’t expected her. He knew someone from IT was coming to see him, but he thought it would have been Mike, the Director of the IT department, not Felicity. Then again, Mike had probably decided to send the best.

She had looked good. She had actually looked amazing. She was sporting her usual low ponytail, bright lipstick, thick-rimmed glasses. Had hadn’t realized how much he had missed seeing her on a daily basis before that moment. His heart had stopped for a fraction of a second and he had to force himself to keep it together. 

She, on the other hand, had seemed perfectly at ease. She stepped in, laptop in hand, and had sat on the chair in front of him. She had immediately begun to explain some intranet upgrades she had been working on, not even bothering with pleasantries. It had taken him a few seconds to pull himself together but he had managed and had concentrated on the topic at hand. It was only when she had been about to leave that he had faltered, almost asking her if she wanted to go for coffee sometime – temporarily forgetting that he had already dated this girl and she had shattered his heart. That night he had broken his resolve to put the past behind him and had fished out his ‘Felicity’ box at the back of his closet. He then spent the rest of the evening going through various mementos that reminded him of Felicity Smoak and his relationship with her.

After that day, he had stopped avoiding her. It was incredible how good he had been at avoidance because he kept running into Felicity. And soon what had begun as awkward nods when they passed each other in the hallway, evolved to ‘hello’s and smiles, progressing to ‘how are you’s to finally become stopping and catching up. Whenever they spoke the topic of conversation was always superficial and meaningless but to Oliver, they were the highlight of his day, if not week. He hated himself for caring so much, for not moving on, but he couldn’t help it. She had made him so happy. She had made him realize what most men realize as they mature; it wasn’t the gorgeous and intense young woman who haunted your dreams at night who was The One but the pretty, quirky one that made you laugh.

Finally, one Friday evening when he walked into the Big Belly Burger and saw Felicity eating by herself, her eyes glued to her tablet, Oliver made a decision: he would get Felicity back. He didn’t care what it would take. He knew from Diggle and Carly that she hadn’t met anyone or even dated since they broke up so there was a chance that she might still care for him. If there was a remote possibility that she still had feelings for him, he would do anything to get her back.

He stopped by the counter to order from Carly before unceremoniously sitting down on the booth in front of Felicity. She jumped about three feet high in surprise.

“Oliver!” She said dropping her tablet on the table. “What are you doing here?”

Oliver put on his most charming smile and said as assertively as he could manage, “I came to eat.” He took one of her fries and popped it into his mouth.

Felicity smiled and swatted his hand playfully. “Hey, that’s mine! Get your own.”

Oliver’s smile widened, encouraged by Felicity’s good mood. “I did. Carly’s going to bring them over any minute.”

Felicity’s smile faltered and her eyes widened, her mood suddenly changing. “You’re going to eat here, at this table?” She asked, pointing a finger at the table between them. Her tone was slightly panicking as if the mere thought of Oliver sharing her table was the worst thing that could happen to her that evening. The sudden shift of her mood made Oliver also stop smiling, no longer confident he could win Felicity’s heart again. Despite the shaky start, he was determined to do everything he could to get her back; he wasn’t going down without a fight. 

“Well, yes, as you seem to be dining by yourself as well,” He said impassively, as if the two of them sharing a meal was trivial. “No point in the two of us eating alone on separate tables.”

Felicity leaned back against the booth, eyeing him carefully. He could sense that she didn’t trust his intentions. She wasn’t completely wrong to question his intent. He had an ulterior motive. “We’re not dating anymore, Oliver,” she said warily. 

Oliver sighed loudly. “I am painfully aware of that.” He looked at her straight in the eye when he said this, trying to see a reaction on her face, an explanation in her eyes. There was something there but it was too veiled beneath a mask of self-protection. So he decided to be blunt. Subtlety had never worked on Felicity. “Why is that? I’ve been racking my brain for months and I still don’t understand why you and I aren’t together anymore.” Felicity’s eyes dropped to her unattended food. He could see a blush appearing on her cheeks. 

“Cheeseburger and fries,” Carly announced as she put Oliver’s order on the table, providing a reprieve to Felicity. Carly raised an eyebrow at Oliver when she saw his table companion but didn’t say anything else before going back to her orders.

“Want some of my fries? They’re fresh and hot,” he said to break the tension.

Felicity looked up. Her eyes looked pained and he hated being the cause of that pain, but at the same time he didn’t regret asking her the question that has been playing in head the last eight month. He felt that he deserved to have a better explanation than what she gave him when she broke up with him.

“I think I should go home,” Felicity suddenly said, grabbing her purse and bolting out the door before Oliver knew what was happening. However, despite retiring The Hood almost a year before, he was still quick on his feet. He had caught up with Felicity before she got into to her car. He grabbed her arm to stop her from getting inside.

“I just want to know why you left me. I just want to know what I did wrong,” Oliver explained to her. 

Felicity shook her head. She looked at him and he saw in her eyes that sadness had replaced pain. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Oliver.” She said this softly, regretfully. 

“Then why? I thought we were happy.” All the self-doubt he had been feeling these last months came back up. He wished he could crack her head open and see what was inside so he could finally understand what happened. “Wasn’t I enough?”

“You were perfect.” Her voice was raw, honest.

Her answer created even more confusion. He understood even less now why she had left him. “Then what was the problem?”

A tear fell from her eye. “I wasn’t perfect for you,” she said calmly and got into her car.

Frustration rose up in Oliver. He didn’t understand how one stuffy fundraising event had convinced Felicity that they didn’t belong together. The whole idea was so ludicrous. It was as if she had erased years of perfect companionship for a couple of hours of superficial interactions. Before the night they broke up, he had never thought his upper class upbringing had ever bothered her. Since the day they met, and especially after she joined his Hood team, she had always treated him like a peer – had never taken into account his money or status in their daily interactions. This attitude hadn’t changed since they had started dating. As they had mostly gone to the Big Belly Burger or hung out at her apartment, they couldn’t have been more of a regular couple. If you didn’t count the whole ‘vigilante on a mission’ thing. Moreover, when he was done with The Hood, she had encouraged him to take on a senior position at Queen Consolidated. 

He got into the passenger seat of her car before she managed to pull away. “Are you really basing this on one night?” He asked, unable to mask his frustration. He put on his seatbelt while she pulled out of the parking lot. He wished he could be calmer, a bit more rational, but the frustration, pain, and heartbreak had been building up for months and he was tired. 

Felicity shook her head. “No.” She paused for a second and then said, “Oliver, you should have seen Laurel at that event.” Oliver’s eyes grew wide. He was confused why Felicity was suddenly bringing up Laurel. He barely thought of her anymore.

“What about Laurel? What does she have to do with anything?” His frustration was growing, but he was also grasping that he was finally getting to the bottom of this. He was going to find out once and for all why Felicity had broken things off.

“She has to do with everything. Don’t you remember what Diggle said? How you were blind when it came to Laurel?” she asked, her voice having gone up half an octave.

Oliver couldn’t help groaning at this. He had no chance if she was going to bring up every little thing that barely had any relevance anymore. “Felicity, that was years ago. That was way before you and I started dating.”

“It doesn’t matter. You should have seen the two of you together that night. You should just see the two of you any time, really. You’re so perfectly matched it’s vomit-inducing. She could not be more perfect for you. I understand that you didn’t want to be with her when you were The Hood, but now that’s behind you, one day or another, you will go back to her. You cannot do otherwise. Two people so perfect for each other belong together. I couldn’t stand in the way.” She was babbling again, like she used to. Regardless of what she was saying, Oliver felt a pang in his heart at being once more on the receiving end of a Felicity Smoak babble.

He was at a complete loss for words. He hadn’t thought about Laurel as a romantic interest for years – probably about six months after he started dating Felicity. It had never occurred to him that he would date Laurel again when he retired The Hood. Whatever Oliver had felt for Laurel all these years ago had faded away by Felicity’s spark. She was so much more to him than what Laurel had been. He had actually figured that he had held Laurel on a pedestal on the island. The distance, time and loneliness had made him believe that she was more than who she really was. When Felicity came to his life, she had crept up on him – he was already in love with her before he even begun to understand how he felt. She was the breath of fresh air he had needed and while her friendship had been rewarding, sharing his life with her had brought him a sense of peace that no amount of name crossing in a notebook could have ever given him. 

He didn’t know where to begin to express how he felt so he started from the first issue. “Felicity, Laurel was more at ease at the fundraising event because she has way more experience of mingling with the upper class idiots than you. I’ve known her since we were kids. She’s been to loads of these events. She almost has as much experience as I have.”

“I don’t think any amount of experience would make me as smooth and comfortable as Laurel. I’ve been babbling for 26 years.”

Oliver chuckled. It was true that despite putting her foot in her mouth constantly, Felicity still hadn’t managed to acquire a filter for the words that came out. It was one of his favourite things about her. All the people in his life had been so deceitful, including himself, it was refreshing to have someone who was so open and honest. There were no games with Felicity, no deception. She was who she was and said what she thought.

“Okay then, there are two solutions: either you don’t go to these types of events with me - trust me, I try to avoid them as much as possible – or just be yourself. I think you’re incredibly charming and could easily win everyone over if you just give it a chance.” 

Felicity pulled into her building’s car park and they got out of the car. When Oliver followed her into the main entrance, she stopped. “Are you really going to come up with me?” she sounded annoyed, but there was a twinkle in her eye that he had gotten to know over the years – she was only pretending to be annoyed and she was actually quite happy that he was following her.

“We haven’t finished our conversation,” he said matter-of-factly. He felt like they were making great progress. She hadn’t even corrected him when he had offered solutions to attending corporate and fundraising events as if getting back together was a given.

Felicity sighed dramatically but held the door open for him to follow her inside. As they got onto the elevator, Felicity picked up the conversation where they had left it, “Think of your family. I doubt they’re thrilled somebody like me instead of Laurel would be representing the Queen family.”

Oliver grinned. That was an easy argument to rebuff. “You should give my family more credit. Walter already sees you as a friend and my mother likes your ‘spunk’ as she so delicately put it. Thea, despite the fact that she only got to know you for a couple of weeks, adores you. She’s actually really pissed at me that we broke up.”

Felicity frowned at that last statement. “But I broke up with you. It wasn’t your fault.”

Oliver smiled at this. Obviously, Felicity had forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. “Oh, she’s positive that I somehow acted like an ass and you had no choice but to break up with me,” he said good-humoredly, remembering Thea’s sour face when he had told her of the break up.

Felicity grinned, amused. “I really like Thea. That girl talks sense.”

Oliver raised his eyebrows. “So I acted like an ass?” he asked as they walked out of the elevator.

Felicity walked rapidly down the corridor to her apartment, not looking at Oliver trailing behind her. When she opened her apartment door, she walked in without ceremonies and for a fraction of a second, Oliver was worried that she would slam the door in his face. Thankfully, she left the door open and threw her purse on her couch. When he stepped inside, Oliver closed the door behind him. Unsure if it was a wise idea, but unable to let it go, he decided to press on the issue. “So what exactly did I do?”

Felicity went into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses of wine. She took the bottle that was sitting on her counter and poured them both some wine. “You left me by myself for 45 minutes to flirt with Laurel,” she remarked as she handed him a glass.

The accusation surprised him. He hadn’t seen the evening from that point of view. He had felt bad to leave Felicity on her own but he had been so desperate to erase the playboy reputation he had built. He wanted to do his family proud when he was going to join the company. He wanted to erase some of the deception he had done while he was The Hood. Laurel had just happened to be around. He could barely remember her presence, let alone what she said. He did remember Felicity, standing at the back a bit awkwardly and promising himself he would make it up to her. He also remembered how beautiful she looked.

“I can honestly say that I wasn’t flirting with her. I can barely remember her that night. I know she was there and we talked a bit, but I remember you a lot more,” he said earnestly, hoping she knew him well enough to know that he was being sincere.

“Yeah, I kind of broke up with you that night,” she commented wryly before taking a sip of wine.

His first instinct was to jump on the opportunity to finally address the break up head on as she was finally mentioning it, but then he paused for a second and changed his mind. This was the root cause, he knew it now. Felicity, for some inane reason, felt inferior to Laurel. At least in terms of their relationship. The idea seemed utterly ridiculous to him, but it was how she felt and he had to convince her that it wasn’t the case. Even more, he had to show her that she was worth a lot more to him than Laurel ever had. 

“No, I mean, I remember you. I remember you were wearing the strapless burgundy dress with the beads on the side. I remember that you had half your hair up with beads in the loose bun and your curls going down your back. You were wearing those diamond earrings my mother lent you. You were standing in the corner of the room by the rose vase. And I remember thinking that this was not a fun night for me so that it must be a lot worse for you. I told myself how grateful I was that you were there, that just looking at you made things a little more bearable and that I would have to make it up to you somehow.”

Felicity had unshed tears in her eyes. He hoped beyond anything else that she believed him, that she saw how sincere he was. He wished they had talked more. Things had been going so well for them, he had felt so in sync with her that it had never occurred to him that she had all these doubts about herself, their relationship, and how she fit in his life. He wished he had told her more often how much she meant to him instead of assuming that she knew.

“Is it true?” she asked, her voice shaking. He hated that she was doubting this. He knew then that she still cared for him. He wasn’t going to take any of it for granted this time. He would tell her that he loved her every day. 

“I love you, Felicity. I have for years and breaking up hasn’t even slightly softened the way I feel about you.” He put his glass down on the counter and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close. She also put her glass down and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. 

“I love you too,” she said to him happily. 

His heart exploded.

He took her in his arms, lifted her about a foot above the floor and spun her around. She laughed happily as he put her back down and kissed her again. Five years of thinking he had lost Laurel forever was nothing compared to these eight months without Felicity. He would do everything he could to never lose her again.

“Promise you will tell me when you question our relationship again. I don’t want to lose you again. Once was one time too many.”

Felicity looked at him straight in the eye. “Promise. I didn’t like being apart either.”

“You seemed so okay with it,” Oliver said accusingly. The pain of seeing her so content when they were apart was still raw.

“I’m a better liar than you are,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. 

Oliver smiled, happy that it had all been an act. He took another sip of wine and winced. “This wine is appalling.”

Felicity swatted at his chest. “Hey, this is a Médoc wine! I know it’s not a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but I’m on a budget.”

Oliver cocked his head to the side, enjoying Felicity’s outburst. He had missed her so much. He tried not to betray his amusement but from the frustrating look on her face, he was pretty sure he was failing. “Well, there are better wines out there,” he said bashfully.

“I know that,” she said in an indignant tone. 

Oliver’s amusement turned into a broad smile. “Actually, I mean, there are better wines here.”

Felicity frowned and looked around the apartment, obviously confused. “What do you mean? I have a Cabarnet Sauvignon in the cupboard but apart from that, I’m out.”

“Not entirely,” he said mysteriously, amused at the confusion he was creating. He walked to the hallway and opened the cupboard at the end of the hall, taking out the stepladder.

“What are you doing?” Felicity was asking behind him. He ignored her as he positioned the stepladder under the attic trap. Felicity lived on the top floor of her building which had conveniently given her access to a small attic. He took his phone out to illuminate the dark room and smiled when he saw what he had been searching for. He crawled a bit further in and grabbed a box. He slowly walked down the stepladder with the heavy box in hand. When he finally had both feet on the floor he put the box down. “What is this?” Felicity asked, looking at the unlabeled box.

Oliver still didn’t answer her question as he put the stepladder back. He grabbed the box and went into the kitchen, setting it on the counter. Felicity tried to open it, but Oliver stopped her. “No peeking,” he said. He took the glasses and rinsed them out.

“Is that wine?” Felicity asked excitedly.

Oliver grinned. It wasn’t like he had been subtle. “Maybe.”

Felicity opened the box, not caring what Oliver had instructed a moment ago. “Ooh, what kind of wine is it? Chateauneuf-du-Pape?” She took a bottle out and her looked utterly shocked. “You remembered,” she whispered, looking at the 1982 Lafite Rothschild label.

“Of course I did. It’s a few years late, but you deserve it.”

Felicity was sporting the biggest smile he had seen in a while. “I can’t believe this box was here all along. When did you bring it?”

“A couple of months before we broke up. There’s actually one more case up there.”

Felicity looked confused again. “But why didn’t you say anything during those two months?”

Oliver shrugged. He had forgotten about the cases when they broke up. When he finally remembered them he figured they had lost their purpose and hadn’t really wanted them back. He hadn’t intended to tell her why he had bought the cases. Not tonight anyway.

“It was meant for a special occasion,” he said, hoping she would drop it. But who was he kidding? This was Felicity Smoak.

“A special occasion? But we didn’t drink any when you finished crossing off the names in the notebook.”

“I meant a significant moment in our relationship,” he clarified. 

Felicity continued to frown, clearly not understanding what he meant. “But what could have been more significant…” she trailed off as Oliver looked at her pointedly. Finally, realization dawned on her. “Oh…” she said, blushing. “You were going to propose?” Oliver nodded. “Really?” she asked, clearly surprised, like the thought had never crossed her mind. “When?” she asked, curiously.

“I hadn’t thought of a date yet. At first I thought our 3 year anniversary but I didn’t want to wait that long.”

Felicity looked even more shocked. “You didn’t want to wait…” 

“Well, I wanted to start a life with you,” he said, hoping that explained how much he loved her, how important she was to him.

“Did you get a ring or just the wine?” she asked, giddiness in her voice. This warmed Oliver’s heart to know that the idea of him proposing was not met with fear but with joy. 

“I got a ring,” he acknowledged.

“Do you still have it? Can I see it?” she asked as Oliver handed her a glass.

“Yes, I still have it,” he replied. “It was your ring. It was never going to be anyone else’s and no, you cannot see it. You’ll have to wait.” 

Felicity looked at the glass in her hand. “So no proposal tonight then?” she mused watching the wine as she swirled it in the glass.

“No proposal tonight. Tonight, we celebrate the fact that you and I are back together. I only get to do one proposal in my life, it has to be a good one.” 

Felicity smiled which made Oliver certain that when he did propose, she would accept. This did take off some of the nerves he had been feeling when he had bought the ring. 

Felicity clinked her glass with his. “I’ll drink to that.”

And while they drank the first bottle of wine celebrating the special moments of their lives together, Oliver began plotting in his head an elaborate proposal. 

He would need the involvement of the IT department.


End file.
